Big Red Sat-1
First 1U CubeSat to characterize perovskite solar cells in orbit.
Big Red Sat-1 was a tiny satellite that became the first CubeSat of its size to test perovskite solar cells in space. A team of students from middle school through graduate school, guided by Professor Karen Stelling at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, handled its design and operation. Partners included Oklahoma University and the National Laboratory of the Rockies, with support from NASA’s nanosatellite launch program and donors. All designs were shared openly.
Quick Facts
- Mission type
- Technology demonstration
- Operator
- University of Nebraska Aerospace Club's Advanced eXperimental Payloads
- Spacecraft type
- CubeSat
- Spacecraft bus
- 1U CubeSat
- Manufacturer
- University of Nebraska–Lincoln, National Laboratory of the Rockies
- Launch mass
- 0.871 kg / 1.92 lb
- Disposal type
- Deorbited
- Decay date
- 1 August 2024
Facts from the source article.
Development
Big Red Sat-1 was selected for a launch opportunity by NASA's CubeSat Launch Initiative on 7 April 2021. High altitude balloons tested mission concepts, including subsystem operation in near-space, leading to custom instrumentation for curve tracing on the perovskite solar cells. The samples were connected via pogo-pins, with temperature measured by a high-precision sensor epoxied to each sample using EP30-2 epoxy. The sample enclosure was designed to retain internal nitrogen, though improved encapsulation made this redundant. Perovskite solar cells from the National Laboratory of the Rockies and Swift Solar were integrated into an aluminum payload frame. After random vibration and sine sweep testing, the satellite was integrated into Nanoracks CubeSat Deployer 27 on 12 December 2023 and launched on 21 March 2024 on SpaceX CRS-30.
Funding
Funding came from the University of Nebraska-College of Engineering, the NASA Nebraska Space Grant, and the CubeSat Launch Initiative. Donors included Ameritas, Acklie Charitable Foundation, Cooper Foundation, Ethel S. Abbott Charitable Foundation, Millard Public Schools Foundation, Monolith, and the Rodgers Foundation. Collaborations were formed with the National Laboratory of the Rockies, Oklahoma University, and Rhodes College.
Mission
Big Red Sat-1 had two main goals. Its scientific mission studied how experimental perovskite solar cells from the National Laboratory of the Rockies performed and degraded in low Earth orbit. To gather this data, a custom precision curve tracer and a low-Ohm analog multiplexer were built into Near Space Launch's 1U FastBus CubeSat Platform, which provided power and Iridium satellite communication for telemetry. The educational mission involved Nebraska students at various levels, guided by undergraduate mentors, who learned to develop, validate, pitch, and build real project concepts.
Outcomes
Big Red Sat-1 was manifested on ELaNa 51 with three other CubeSats and deployed from NRCSD27 by Voyager Space on 18 April 2024 at 18:05:09 UTC. First communication occurred at 03:00:10 UTC on 19 April 2024. The satellite deorbited after 23:41:51 UTC on 1 August 2024, after 105 days of operation, exceeding the specified mission duration by 15 days. Data showed one perovskite solar cell maintained 80% of its power output for the entire 105 days.
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